The Frederick Williamson Collection

Frederick Williamson
was a British Political Officer stationed in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet in the
1930s. He was also an ardent photographer. Between December 1930-August 1935,
he and his wife, Margaret Williamson, shot approximately 1700 photographs throughout
the Himalayan region. As well as documenting the Williamsons' personal travels,
the photos provide an unusually well-preserved and well-catalogued insight into
social life in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet during the 1930s. The Williamson Photographic
Collection is housed in the Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology at Cambridge University and a recent exhibition
entitled Collected
Sights featured a number of Williamson's photos. Of equal interest are the
23 reels of 16mm cine film which Williamson shot while in Sikkim, Bhutan and
Tibet. These have now been digitised and are being made available online.